Arsenal Records – Never to be beaten?

Arsenal.com has put 10 records which they think can never be broken. Some may not seem that important such as highest home attendance (73,295); however we at TKTG bring the best of the rest:

TITLE-WINNING CAPTAIN IN THREE DIFFERENT DECADES

(Getty)

Tony Adams is, of course, the legendary skipper who achieved this feat. Made skipper in January 1988, aged 21, he lead the team to the momentous 1988/89 league triumph and then captained George Graham’s team to the title in 1990/91 and Arsène Wenger’s side in 1997/98 and 2001/02. A job well done, you could say. Could this feat be repeated? It’s not beyond the realms of possibility, but it would seem highly unlikely. It relies on the appointment of a very young captain towards the end of a decade who then remains with the Club, as captain, for a dozen years or more – and not forgetting the titles need winning too!

FEWEST PLAYERS USED IN AN ENTIRE SEASON

(Arsenal.com)

When Arsenal won the their first ‘Double’ in 1971, they used fewer players than in any season before or since. The Gunners played 42 league games, nine in the FA Cup, five League Cup matches and eight in the European Fairs Cup and successfully came through this heavy schedule using just 16 different players. Goalkeeper Bob Wilson and indefatigable winger George Armstrong played all 64 games, while many of the other stars of the day only missed only one or two games – Frank McLintock, Pat Rice and Ray Kennedy missing just one match, for example. Nowadays, the number of players used each season tends to be double that and more – 38 last season, 35 so far this term. The greater physical demands on modern players dictating that utilisation of far larger squads is a necessity.

FASTEST TO 100 GOALS

(Arsenal.com)

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo appear to be proving that scoring a goal a game at the very highest level is possible, but in the history of Arsenal – and recent football in England – no-one has come close to Ted Drake’s feat of scoring his first 100 goals in just 108 games. The closest any Arsenal player has come to Drake’s rapid century was Ian Wright, who took 143 games to reach the landmark. All-time leading scorer Thierry Henry took 181, whilst the most recent inductee to our ‘100 Club’, Robin van Persie, took 238. Drake’s cause was famously helped by seven goals in a game (will this ever be beaten?) against Aston Villa in 1935/36, though his most prolific campaign was the season before when he struck 43 goals in 46 league and cup games. In all Drake netted 139 times in 184 games.

GOING THROUGH A LEAGUE SEASON UNBEATEN

(Arsenal.com)

We have saved the best until last. Yes, we could match this achievement, but it is certainly unbeatable and, on the eve of its 10-year anniversary, the Invincibles’ perfect campaign looks every bit as stunning in retrospect as it did at the time – perhaps even more so. For the record, Arsène Wenger’s peerless Premier League team won 26 and drew 12 of their games, matching the achievement of Preston North End’s Invincibles in 1888/89, though that team only played 22 league games (won 18, drew four). Since 2003/04, no team has come close to producing a similar achievement. The following season, Chelsea lost just one league match, but it was early in the piece (October) and since then, the fewest games lost by any team in the Premier League is four. The Club’s finest achievement looks reassuringly secure.